Thirty-five people attended the June 12 lively meeting of the Monroe County Beekeepers Association to share the tips, triumphs and heartbreaks of beekeeping.

The centerpiece of the evening at the Monroe County Environmental Education Center at 8050 Running Valley Road in Stroudsburg was Frank Licata's presentation on how to make money from your hives beyond the sales of honey.

"Selling soap, lotion and lip balm helps with the expenses of beekeeping," said Licata of Bramble Ridge Honey Farm. "It helps, but you won't become rich."

The beauty of making these products is that they don't take much time, money, or skill to produce. They all contain something from the hive, usually honey or wax, and they can be made in your kitchen. Directions are widely available online. Licata also recommended the book "The Soapmaker's Companion" by Susan Miller Cavitch.

"Lotion is a big seller," Licata said. "Get a recipe off the Internet and then tweak it to make it your own." He laughed that sometimes the "hardest" part is sanitizing the kitchen before he begins. However, it is worth the effort. Licata makes as much from selling lotions and such as he does from selling honey.

Another member said that popular items to sell are honey, wax and propolis, which is a resinous mixture that honey bees collect from poplar and cone-bearing tree buds, sap flows, or other botanical sources.

Trapping pollen

Parts of a pollen trap used to collect pollen were passed around. A screen with asterisk-shaped holes is placed over the entrance to the hives. As the bees crawl through the screen, the pollen is scraped from the bees and falls into a drawer. The pollen looks like tiny beads of gold. At $17 a pound, perhaps it is.

Other topics discussed were bears, swarms, mites and the singing beekeeper.

Bears love to eat bees and their larvae. The honey is only a topping. If a bear destroys your hives and you report it to the Pennsylvania Game Commission regional center within five days, you can get some reimbursement for your losses. This is a one-time only benefit unless you put up an electric fence that meets the commission's standards. For nonbeekeepers, to keep bears at bay, bring birdfeeders and put ammonia-soaked rags under the garbage can lids.

In spring, there are always articles about how honeybees are not surviving the winter. Buying bees every year is expensive. Bees can swarm and fly off to find a new home elsewhere. But one person's misfortune is another person's good luck. The club maintains a swarm list. When someone calls and says, "There's a swarm of bees in my backyard — please remove them," the next beekeeper on the swarm list is called. If that beekeeper can catch the swarm, she or he can keep it. Free bees!

Controlling mites

The healthier a hive is the more likely it'll survive the winter. Mites are a prevalent affliction of hives and bees. Some beekeepers use chemicals to control mites. Some use essential oils or other nonchemical means. The key to success, however, is to treat for the mites in early July so that several healthy broods can be born before the dark days of December. For more information on mites, go to YouTube and search for Sam Comfort the singing beekeeper.

It is now too late to start a hive for this year. However, it's the perfect time to learn about beekeeping. The MCBA meets on the second Wednesday of each month at Monroe County Conservation District's Environmental Education Center.

On the Sunday before the meeting, members get together at the club's hives at Waterfront Park in Smithfield Township. There are many opportunities through the club to get hands-on experience before committing to an expense. For more information, check out the MCBA website at monroecountybeekeepers.com.

Pike & Monroe Life Writer Laurel Bishow has been a Penn State Master Gardener.